Tejeha Lusato
by Arsenic Cupcakes
Summary: What happened with Rikku behind the scenes? What were her thoughts and her troubles? A collection of small segments exploring Rikku's side of the story. Some Aurikku involved as well as other suggested pairings...
1. Goodbyes

As Gippal wordlessly sifted through his belongings and stuffed certain items into a large canvas bag in that careless, guyish way, Rikku sat tentatively on his bed, legs crossed in front of her and her hands grasping her ankles, and it was a silent, somber moment in time, as Rikku sat and Gippal packed, as if they had forgotten the other's presence in the same space.

But they hadn't forgotten - only - they almost _wanted_ to forget - but it was just impossible.

Rikku's vivid green eyes were transfixed on the sight of Gippal's hands, moving this and that and the other thing into the bag. Vivid green eyes, childlike and bright, betraying the inner confusion she felt. It wasn't so long ago - not so long ago at all - that they were little children, running happily through the Sanubian sands and laughing and enjoying their blissful, youthful ignorance. It really wasn't _that_ long ago. And yet she had to dig in her subconscious for those memories of the sight of small feet and stubby legs kicking up dust and the feel of the grains of sand under her fingernails after the sandcastles...

They were too soon grown, she thought, and the world became real with just as much danger and drama and other woes as there was happiness. Now Gippal was leaving the familiar grounds of Home, to fight alongside strangers in a harsh, outer realm, fighting a near-impossible battle to bring down a truly evil monstrosity.

_Fro tu baubma knuf ib mu vycd?* _she thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted upon seeing a long, narrow black box laid out beside Gippal's luggage. It was the first time she seemed to consciously notice it. The box was unmarked, covered in a tough leather hide and held together with slightly beat-up looking metallic latches. It seemed almost insignificant, but Rikku was intrigued all the same.

"What's this?" she said, almost too casually - as if she were trying too hard.

Gippal glanced quickly at the box, then back to his present task. "Rifle," he said bluntly.

"You carry it in a box...? Since when? I thought you just always kept it on you."

"Well, that would be kind of impractical while traveling... I've got a ways to go before I'm actually gonna use it." He shrugged nonchalantly.

Somehow Rikku didn't feel satisfied with that explanation, and so she grabbed the box and began undoing the latches. Gippal snapped around, almost alarmed, after hearing the snapping of each one being opened, and yet he did nothing but stare with a blank expression. Rikku finally lifted the lid, and nestled among the soft, onyx cloth within was a blade shining with the artificial lighting of the dormitory.

"A katana...?" she mumbled, puzzled. "Why a katana? I thought you were taking your rifle..." He was, after all, far better with machina weapons, just as most Al Bhed were. Rikku had a sneaking suspicion as to why he made such an odd choice though, and now she was putting two and two together.

"They don't know you're Al Bhed?" she said. She remembered how surprised she was when she heard he had been accepted for the Crimson Squad Trials.

Gippal shook his head vehemently, sighing. "I knew you wouldn't get it," he said.

Rikku was appalled. "What do you mean? You couldn't tell me?"

No answer.

"Why don't you just tell them? Why does it matter? The Crusaders are working with Pops right now to get together Operation Mi'ihen! You know that!"

"Rikku," Gippal said matter-of-factly, "this is an _elite _squad. They _really _don't want us there."

"They'll know!" Rikku argued. "They'll see it in your eyes!"

Her own bright eyes met with Gippal's, and his visible green eye seemed to darken at her defiance. After a sharp exchange, he said, "Rikku. I only have one eye."

"You know what I mean!" she said, crossing her arms with a violent, jerking motion which gave away her embarrassment. "I don't see why it would matter to them, anyway. They need the help! They know it! You could just as well help them beat Sin."

Gippal actually smirked a little in spite of himself at this remark. "_Oui drehg duu rekrmo uv baubma.*_"

Rikku felt defeated at this comment, and a little irritated. Why did everyone and everything have to always be raining on her parade? What was wrong with a little optimism and a little goodwill? Sometimes she felt like the only human of her kind. Everyone else seemed to _always_ assume the worst, all the time...

Gippal zipped up the bag and slung it over his shoulder. All he said was, "C'mon."

Rikku sluggishly stood up from the bed and exited the dormitory, and Gippal followed her out and paused to lock the machina door on the dormitory. Rikku listened to each _bleep _of the keys being punched as he entered the code, thinking, _That room will be empty for... Who knows? Weeks, maybe... Maybe even months..._

And how would she even say goodbye? How does one say goodbye to an old friend/nuisance who is leaving for some undeterminable amount of time for a world you don't really know very much about? For someone you won't see again for a long time, because they're going to be off doing something important... something really meaningful... What does one say?

She was saved the stress of thinking on it for a nanosecond as he turned to her. "You're more quiet than usual."

Rikku was struck with bemusement. "Well, yeah... Especially after _that_ insult a while back..."

"Hey, it's not that I don't trust you, I just knew that... well, you wouldn't handle it well. But it's something I gotta do."

"It's not even that! I just..." Rikku started, and then realized she didn't even know what she was thinking.

"Just...?"

"Never mind." She shook her head, frowning a little.

Gippal just smirked again, almost as if he found her confusion amusing somehow. "Don't worry about it. Now that I think of it, that annoying optimism of yours?... I think that's why I always liked ya." He reached up and pinched her cheek, adding a smartly worded "Cid's girl".

Rikku couldn't help but giggle and bat his hand away. "_Famm, E landyehmo mega so ubdesecs.*_"

"_E druikrd cu*_," he said. "I'll see you again soon. Gotta hop on Pahho's salvage ship if I wanna get to the Djose shore soon enough! He's leaving at sundown."

"Then I guess you better run," Rikku said. He smiled once more and turned to walk down the long corridor out of Home. "Goodbye!" she added, on second thought, and then - doubly late - "I'll miss you, I guess..."

But the last part was mumbled and unsure and he had already nearly disappeared up one of the staircases leading off of the hallway.

* * *

*For those of you too lazy to interpret the Al Bhed quotes ;] here are the translations in order of appearance:

Rikku: Why do people grow up so fast?

Gippal: You think too much of people.

Rikku: Well, I certainly like my optimism.

Gippal: I thought so.

* * *

A/N: Yes, I am well aware Gippal was indeed equipped with a machina weapon when the time came for the Crimson Squad trials... As were the other candidates... Just clarifying, in case you were a bit confused. It will work out later on.


	2. Whiner

Gippal wasn't the only one with a mission to accomplish.

Weighed down with her own luggage, Rikku took a hover back out to the shores of Bikanel later that evening, where the salvage ships were docked. Once there, she walked with an unusual grace over the pollocked, hilly sand to the small settlement on location. This place - "the port", as they called it - was formed of all the huts and tents and other temporary homes for the people working out here on the salvage ships. Being a good distance away from Home, it was obviously much more convenient to camp out here for however long, rather than making the long trips to and from Home every day.

It certainly looked like a worker's camp, at a glance. Rambunctious shouting in the native tongue punctuated the furious wind of sand and sea. Among sparse vegetation brought about by the water, all the shabby dwellings were arranged in an almost ludricous attempt at a grid-like pattern. Steel fingers jutted out on the blue-green waters, serving as both the anchors to which each ship was docked and walkway for all the shiphands and the finds they brought back from the salvage missions. A great, rectangular mass overshadowing the camp, customarily known as the "Shed", was the warehouse where they stored most of the salvaged materials until further notice. Hover caravans would come every few days to transport certain cargo back to Home, for research, development - or use.

Rikku walked through the camp past groups sitting around fires and quickly eating dinner, some of them still carrying the sweat and sand of the days' work on their bodies. The sun had just disappeared past the horizon and twilight pervaded the air, gracing the camp with somewhat cooler temperatures.

Rikku approached one fire in particular, and was greeted by a chorus of "Cid's girrrrlll!" from its admirers. One of them jumped up from his spot in the sand just about dumping his plate of food, looking obviously displeased.

"_Frana ryja oui paah?*_" he shouted. "It is nighttime already!"

"I know, Brother, I have eyes!" Rikku retorted.

"Then where were you?" he said, his eyes looking ridiculously manic, the way they always did when he threw a tantrum. The other fire-keepers looked on shamelessly, as if from behind a partition.

"Saying goodbye to Gippal," she said, and then after a pause added, "and getting my stuff together."

"Gippal..." Brother muttered under his breath, crossing his arms and displaying a sudden childlike poutiness. "_E ruba dryd pycdynt hajan lusac pylg.*_"

"_Duu pyt E lyh'd cyo dra cysa du oui!*_" Rikku said. "Aren't we still leaving tonight?"

Brother repeated her question in a high-pitched, mocking voice. "Up to you, princess!"

"Alright then, let's load her up and get going, boys!" Rikku shouted to the fire-keepers. They all had their moment of whooping and cheering before tossing their trays in the dirtied water by the food tent and running out to the ship with all urgency, and Rikku followed. Brother made a bird-like shriek of distress as he watched them all drift away and commenced in repeatedly shouting, "My ship! I give the orders! ME! It is MY SHIP!"

* * *

*Al Bhed translations, once again in order of appearance:

Brother: Where have you been?

Brother: I hope that bastard never comes back.

Rikku: Too bad I can't say the same to you!


	3. Boom Goes the

After completing a few missions with Brother's crew, always diving into unknown waters and continuing to carry the weight of it in the material of her suit, even while exploring ruins and caves and who-knows-what... Rikku thought perhaps she should be used to the sensation of being sopping wet, but she just never had much luck there. Crouching under numerous walls and pillars all torn asunder in times forgotten, she was still pretty annoyed at the feeling that came from her skin being bound in a soggy, rubbery suit.

Other crew members crouched in whatever nooks and crannies they could spot, and one of them swiftly tossed a grenage to the doors behind with a shout of "_Ajanouha kad tufh!*_" For one tense moment, they all ducked their heads and waited with baited breath, and time froze in the calm before the storm - and in that moment Rikku found herself looking down at the layer of water covering every inch of floor within the ruins, here arriving at her feet. She watched through the dark tint of her goggles as glimmering drops of saltwater fell from some invisible strand of blond hair above her line of sight. It flashed through the air before hitting the great puddle, soundlessly, violently fusing liquid with liquid to create a circle of precise waves. She tried counting them, feeling she needed a focus while she waited, but still she found it hard to concentrate and lost count completely when the blast came.

They all saw the smoke and the rubble spit out by the explosion even from where they hid. As soon as they heard the doors hit the ground with a _thud _and a _splash_, they all picked up their weapons and carefully approached the fast disappearing conflagration. Once it had cleared up reasonably enough, Rikku was the first through the door.

Her senses were first assaulted by the wail of storm winds, and the hiss of rain coming down in waterfalls from the ruptured ceiling. Even above all that, though, she could hear the spine-tingling shriek of the Klikk.

Then she saw _him_, a blonde young man, sprawled on the ground with a pretty ancient looking sword next to him. He looked pretty wet around the ears even to Rikku. _Fryd dra ramm ec drec get tuehk rana?*_

"_Y fiend! Mad'c dyga ed tufh!*_" one of the men behind her shouted.

"_Hu! E'ja kud drec uha!*_" Rikku argued. She tightened her gloves and secured her claw attachments on each to make her point. As he seemed to take this point, she stepped into the fray, tingling with the excitement she always experienced before a battle, and then she took a glance at the guy next to her - saw his overconfident blue eyes, heard him speak enthusiastically in the mainstream Spiran instead of Al Bhed - and was overcome with a completely different thrill as she realized he was a foreigner here, an outsider. And yet, he looked so naive, trusting, almost _happy_.

Rikku hated when things got complicated.

**"You on my side? Cool!"...**

**

* * *

**

*Al Bhed Translations, again in order of appearance:

Crew Member: Everyone get down!

Rikku: Who the hell is this kid?

Crew Member: A fiend! Let's take it down!

Rikku: No! I've got this one!

* * *

A/N: No, your eyes do _not _deceive you. This chapter is indeed called "Boom Goes the". If you don't know how that phrase ends, you should really enlighten yourself on Youtube. It's worth a laugh. :]


	4. Nowhere Land

**"You said...You play blitzball?"**

**"Uh-huh." **

**"You know, you should go to Luca. Someone might know who you are, or you might find someone you recognize."**

**"Luca?"**

_Fryd y cdyhka kio*_, Rikku had thought in that brief moment - but for all his foreign nature and cluelessness, she certainly didn't think less of him. He was just... sick. Not spiteful or pessimistic or any of that, just... confused.

**"...Okay, leave it to me! I'll get you to Luca, promise!"**

**"..."**

**"You'd rather stay here?" **

**"Uh-uh!"**

**"Okay, I'll go tell the others. Wait here. ...Oh, and one thing. Don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand, okay? Yevon says it's a holy place. You might upset someone."**

**"Oh... uh-huh."**

No, she didn't have to worry about him. He wasn't a fiend, and he wasn't a Yevonite ready to persecute them either - he was just an unfortunate victim of Sin's toxin. Not exactly a desirable condition, but there wasn't much harm in it either. She actually felt happy, a little bit proud even, for helping this poor, nice guy, a real human being.

But of course, Sin had _some_ sick sense of humor. Rikku had just gotten down to the bridge when the ship moaned and shook and gravity turned in on itself, throwing her into the steel wall to her left. _Dryd'c kuhhy pnieca dusunnuf*_, she thought bitterly as she cautiously brought herself back up while gravity decided what it was going to do next. The whole crew ran past her like a shot, and Brother screamed at her like a banshee, "_Rikku, luja ed!* _We are being attacked by Sin! Are you deaf?"

"Ughhhhh, you're such an idiot!" Rikku roared before remembering the confused guy out on the main deck, perfectly vulnerable. She ran back out across the swaying metal surface, thankful her agility lent her a bit of an advantage in this situation.

Rikku saw an undiscernable, hideous shape against that disgusting gray sky, creating huge swells of waves everytime it shifted. The water roared and swept across the deck, circling around their feet - so much for keeping balanced _now_ - they all scrambled gracelessly for a hold on the crane or the rail or _something_. The nice, delirious blond guy wasn't exactly so lucky - Rikku watched as the furious ocean tossed him overboard like some scary-muscular man carelessly throwing a bag of pasta. _Now _she felt a little bit like panicking.

She struggled to wade through the writhing water, the weight and the pressure on her shins and ankles just as real as any pair of iron shackles, and bent over the rail, holding on for dear life herself. She just barely glimpsed him in the water, that mop of sunny hair as bright as her blond locks, before he was swallowed up by a cyclone of sea, seemingly hurling him toward that mass of Sin like a slingshot.

"_Hu, hu! Fryd tu E - ?*_" she shouted in desperation, but he was gone, gone, and Brother was left yelling commands to the crew, send out a distress signal, secure the ship, don't let _me_ fall overboard, I don't want to die!...

* * *

Al Bhed translations, in order of appearance:

Rikku: What a strange guy.

Rikku: That's gonna bruise tomorrow.

Brother: Rikku, move it!

Rikku: No, no! What do I - ?

* * *

A/N: I wrote about three different versions of a third chapter, trying to decide in which direction to take this narration to work around the events that happened during the game, since all you guys reading this would already know what happened and wouldn't want another run-through... I was really struggling with the idea of how best to just touch down lightly on it and make it more about Rikku behind-the-scenes like I wanted this to be.

If you guys reading this have any CC on how I handled that here, I would love to hear it, since that's what gave me the most trouble... Plz to critique? :]


	5. Stranded

"_Brother! E haat ramb!* _Man overboard!" Rikku shouted.

"It's no good!" came a yell only audible because of the great effort put into making the words. She glanced through the rain of ocean water to see Buddy clinging to the swinging rail not far from her. "I saw everything. He's gone, Rikku!"

The news hit Rikku like the blast of one of her own grenades. Somehow she hadn't believed he was really gone - she still didn't quite believe it. But there was the truth in that they had both seem him flung into the sea, right toward the hulking form of Sin. She looked at Buddy, frozen, squinting againt the saltwater trying to get under her eyelids. As the chaos of ship and sea, metal and water, continued in the background, she had a moment apart from it all. Was he... dead? Did she just watch someone die at the hands of Sin...? Rikku refused to think so. He was just... missing.

"_Ed'c mayjehk!*_" one of the men shouted incredulously.

Interrupted, Rikku turned her head with Buddy's to look out at the formless horizon - and saw nothing. The monstrous shape was gone, but the water still rolled and frothed around the ship.

"What..." Rikku began, as protests began from all sides of the deck -

"I can't see!"

"Where did it go?"

"_Frana ec ed?*_"

They all were jolted violently when something hit the bottom side of the boat on one side. Before any of them could make any speculations about what the hell it was that hit them, they barely saw the monstrous form rise again - this time dangerously close to the opposite side of the boat. A bizarre sound - a roar, a moan, a howl, maybe - rang out and then the boat began tipping. Rikku's stomach lurched as gravity made one final severe shift. The boat turned over on its side, the crew members screamiing wildly, and the deck met the ocean's surface with an intense _splash_.

Rikku was surrounded with cold, dark water again, but this time it drowned her in just as much shock and danger as it did water. Without her goggles, it was somehow harder to see in this water - all she could see was a rippling, greenish blue field. Her first instinct was to flail - then she thought better of it and started swimming upward, reaching out to perceive what was above her. Her hands met with the steel deck - at least, that's what she thought it was - somehow it felt so alien underwater. She swam along the surface, feeling her way toward the rail and finally out beside the ship where she could surface.

Once she felt the chilly wind on her head, she shook her hair out wildly and opened her eyes once the drops had cleared from her face. She saw Brother, Buddy, and a few other crew members floating just as pathetically beside their capsized ship. Another man surfaced about a yard from her. Rikku looked to the ship - how pitiful it looked bottoms-up like that, like a toy - and then she remembered: Sin. _Uv luinca!*_

But the ocean had suddenly become eerily calm. No more tidal waves and anxiety - the scene had returned once again to the quiet, gloomy, moonlit night.

"It's gone, Rikku," Buddy said, reading her puzzled expression. "Thank the Fayth."

"Thank the Fayth?" Brother shrieked angrily. The bird squawk was returning. "_Thank the Fayth? _What do you mean thank the Fayth?"

"I said thank the Fayth, not thank Yevon," Buddy said coolly - although adding that last pronoun with a snort of disgust.

"That is not what I am meaning! My SHIP - look at my ship! _So pypo, so bnaleuic pypo!*_"

He flailed as if he were drowning to make his point. Buddy sighed. "At least we're alive. Everyone here?"

"_Oayr!*_" came the synonomous shout.

"Please say someone sent out a distress signal before the system got waterboarded?" Rikku whined.

"I did!" one of the little floating heads announced. "As soon as Sin was spotted!"

Everyone sighed with relief, exasperation, grief... And after a moment of doing nothing but staying afloat in the dark sea in silence - all but Brother, that is - Buddy said slowly, as if it were a statement he was deathly afraid of - "I guess... We're gonna have to wait until somebody comes."

Rikku was struck by the idea of the infinitesimal amount of time they would have to spend out here like this, and resented it immediately - and then she thought again of the confused guy who was swept away by Sin, and found herself repeating the mantra that he was not dead, just missing.

_Dryc cilgc.* Not being a kid sucks._

_

* * *

_

*Al Bhed Translations in order of appearance againnnn:

Rikku: Brother! I need help!

Crew Member: It's leaving!

Crew Member: Where is it?

Rikku: Of course!

Brother: My baby, my precious baby!

Crew: Yeah!

Rikku: This sucks.

* * *

A/N: This was another difficult scene to write somehow - I don't know if I'm experiencing a slight bit of writers' block or what, but it was a bit tedious. So again, any CC you guys reading this might have is much appreciated!


	6. Waiting

Fifteen hours. Fifteen _long_ hours sitting all huddled up like a pack of lupines on the exposed backside of Brother's precious ship, hoping that might help the disagreement between wet skin and cold wind. Rikku had almost started to believe that no one was coming, when she saw the change of colors on the horizon - black, blue, lavendar, pink - while the sun was rising. But of course, being the optimist, she reminded herself that it _probably_ took a while.

No, the worst part of waiting fifteen hours on the exposed backside of Brother's precious ship, as far as Rikku could tell, was that it was so damn _boring_. They talked for a while about their disappointment at recent events, but after an hour they were all too cold and tired to even complain, and so they just sat in silence and stayed warm and occasionally checked to see if everyone was still in good health and not dead (although Rikku ignored that possibility too). She was sure she'd seen enough Bikanel Sea horizon to last her 'til she was in her grave and then some.

In the cold and the dark and the incredible boredom, Rikku was forced to think of the guy who fell overboard. She had warmed up to him so quickly – such a kindred spirit, just like her – he was a nice guy, someone she could definitely be friends with, even if he was a little delusional from the toxin. And he'd been thrown to Sin like a sorry sack of potatoes. _Tysh*_.

After the sun had risen and warmed them a little, making them marginally more conversational, one of the crew members mentioned their find. "_Lybdyeh*_," he said, addressing Brother with his laughably formal title as captain, "what we goin' do 'bout the airship?"

"Ah, yes! Of course! The airship!" Brother said as if he'd had a divine revelation, and then he began yammering about the thrill of such a find, of how he couldn't _wait _to get it Home to fix it up and then fly it around Spira – oh, but first he had to give it a _cool _name, and so then he went through the list of the ridiculously macho titles he'd thought up.

So now Rikku had to listen to Brother go on and on with his stupid names like a lunatic. This got _better_ and _better_. Thankfully, the rescue ship arrived just when Rikku was thinking she might push him back into the ocean. "_Dra creb, dra creb!*_" one of the men shouted excitedly once they spotted the ship on the horizon. They all craned their necks, identified the thing, and stood up like they'd just watched some kind of long, exciting sphere movie and were ready to go do something else.

* * *

Al Bhed translation (there's only one this time! Scandalous):

Rikku: Damn.

Crew Member: "The ship, the ship!"


	7. Maybe Evil Schemes

"How's my girl?" Cid asked, approaching where Rikku stood leaning against the rail swathed in a thick blanket.

"I'm okay," Rikku said jovially, "although I'll probably go nuts at some point from listening to Brother's stupidity."

Cid gave a grunt of amusement at her little joke. He turned his gaze along the same line of sight Rikku's green eyes were on, to the scene playing out in the water beside them. Not one, but several ships had gathered, and after rescuing them, they began to work at salvaging the airship. It had taken a lot of deliberation to decide how to hoist the airship out of the water – it was obviously too heavy for any of their ships, so they decided in the end to take the risk of taking it apart piece by piece. Tens of dozens of divers were working underwater in the ruins they had found just last night, dismantling the barnacle and seaweed coated hull. A flash of fuschia color would glow beneath the waves periodically, signaling to nearby ships to pull the cranes up from the water, and every time they hoisted up another almost unrecognizable piece of ancient metal. It was deposited carefully on the deck of the ship, secured and harnessed by the crew remaining on the ship, examined, and noted in the inventory. The air was filled with the mechanical humming and whining and grinding of multiple cranes working and the shouts of the workers ushering in the next piece almost as if it were their pet dog.

"Good," Cid said after a pause, his voice commanding and gruff as always, but with a hidden nuance of worry. "If yer mom was still here, she'd have kicked my ass for lettin' the two of you land in a spot of trouble like that!"

Cid chuckled and Rikku smirked. She could appreciate that humor. After all, she had never once thought they could truly be in mortal danger even during the course of Sin's attack. She cringed slightly at the thought of that Zanarkand guy thrown overboard, and reminded herself again that he hadn't actually _died_. Nah, they were all alright.

"You're a brave kid, Rikku," Cid said, as if he could tell what her thoughts were then, and he playfully patted her on the head. Rikku laughed a little, and as he drew as his arm back, he suddenly got a very somber expression on his face.

"I gotta tell you somethin', though, kiddo."

Rikku turned apprehensively toward him. "Oh, great, now what?"

"You know the plans… for the Summoners' Sanctum," he said. Rikku cocked her head in curiosity.

"I'm going ahead with it," he said, without waiting for an answer. "Soon's we get this airship put back together. We'll put her to rights real quick, and then I'll start sending out groups to search for summoners."

"You seem in a hurry," Rikku said nonchalantly.

Cid paused again, for a long time now, and all they heard was another crane ascending slowly from the water, pulling the weight of a large plate of metal emboldened with the blue-purple crest of some long dead master.

"Rikku, your cousin Yuna…" Cid began again. "I heard she was finishing her training in Besaid."

Rikku bolted upright from the rail. "What? She's really gonna do it? She's gonna make the pilgrimage?"

"Yep, I think she will," Cid said sorrowfully. "She's determined."

"So… That's why you're starting now. That's the rush, then."

Cid nodded vigorously, though his head was hanging a little lower. "I've gotta save my little niece, whether she likes it or not!"

"Let me go!" Rikku said.

Cid stood up and mumbled, "Huh?" in that half-witted way that was uncomfortably reminiscent of Brother.

"I mean, let me go find Yunie and bring her back!" Rikku said. "I wanna help her too! I'll make sure she's safe, no problem!"

Cid chuckled again. "I guess I couldn't tell ya no, could I?"

"Nope!" Rikku assured enthusiastically, striking a victory pose, hands on hips and face toward the horizon with a triumphant look, the heavy blanket still clutched in her hands and garnering her waist like the sash of a goddess.

Cid grunted again and looked down at the rippling surface of the ocean. "We'll talk later," he said thoughtfully, and began to walk away.

"We'll talk? What's that supposed to mean?" Rikku shouted. "I'm going! That's final, Pops! You ain't gonna stop me, I – "

And then she groaned as the sound of the ship's crane drowned her out, raising up more ancient treasure from the depths of the sea.


End file.
